Selb (DE

PROJECT SCALE — L – urban + architecture LOCATION — Selb, Station area POPULATION — 15,000 inhab. STRATEGIC SITE — 65.7 ha / PROJECT SITE — 6.6 ha

SITE PROPOSED BY — City of Selb OWNER OF THE SITE — City of Selb, private owners POST-COMPETITION PHASE — Commission for an urban design (depending on the quality of the projects)

City of Selb —

1. WHAT ARE THE GOALS OF THE SITE MUTATION? The goal of the competition task was to redesign and restructure the undefined and unqualified area around the station, considering that the city of Selb will host the Bavarian-Czech friendship weeks in 2023. Thus, the definition of the arrival situation at the station and the link to the inner city were important parts of the task. Additionally, the area has a potential to create a project with new and contemporary housing forms that are needed in Selb.

2. HOW CAN THE SITE BE LINKED TO THE TOPIC “PRODUCTIVE CITIES”? HOW DO YOU DEFINE THE THEME “PRODUCTIVITY”?

The city Selb has a long tradition in production. The manufacturing of porcelain has left many traces in the city and the development of both —the city and the porcelain production— are deeply interwoven. Besides the porcelain, there are many more production companies located in Selb. Today, the city needs integrated production spaces, especially for smaller companies.

3. HAVE YOU ALREADY DEFINED A SPECIFIC PROCESS FOR THE URBAN AND/OR ARCHITECTURAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE AFTER EUROPAN COMPETITION?

We planned three workshops to transform the competition results into a specific planning task. Additionally, the implementation of part of the project until the Bavarian-Czech friendship weeks in 2023 could be possible.

Scherben bringen Glück

AUTHOR(S) — Dr. Simon Gehrmann (DE), Architect, urbanist; Roderich Essmann (DE), Robin Thomae (DE), Margarita Vollmer (DE), Students in architecture TEAM POINT OF VIEW — The project represents an extension for the future development of the city of Selb, which is currently dominated by the construction of an outlet to stimulate consumption The design focuses on the creation of a specialized educational site, taking up the city’s heritage of the porcelain industry as well as the citizens’ experiences and knowledge about ceramics. Two core elements shape the area around a unique “magnet” —the productive heart becomes the centre of life for researchers, students and residents with new forms of work and housing in research labs and studio houses. The promenade of friendship gathers the inhabitants and stimulates exchange and lingering. The core elements of the project offer the opportunity to host events for the Friendship Weeks between Selb (DE) and Asch (CZ) 2023. JURY POINT OF VIEW — The team proposes a conceptual approach of understanding the train station site at a central location in the city as a productive heart and thus once again gives it the important function of facilitating encounters, production, and spending time. The programmatic offer with a balanced mix of production, housing, exhibitions, and services is considered suitable. The concentration and spatial link with mobility providers in one hub on the eastern part of the site also seems convincing. Creating a green space to the north is welcomed as a spatial and functional supplement and transition to the residential area.

SELB (DE) — WINNER

CONTACT — Darmstadt (DE) r-essmann@gmx.de / margarita.vollmer96@web.de /

robin_th@hotmail.de / gehrmann@stadt.tu-darmstadt.de

AUTHOR(S) — Alberto Montiel Lozano (ES), Pedro de la Torre Prieto (ES), Architects CONTRIBUTOR(S) — David Belmonte García (ES), Architect of a post-industrial European town. The once on the outskirts industrial area has lost its activity and now stands in between the historic town centre and the suburbs, generating an urban void and a barrier. Reusing the old facilities to generate new urban spaces, proposing new ecological strategies to remove the contamination, reconnecting the surrounding areas (city centre, suburbs, park) and filling the urban voids with new activities and housing to attract new inhabitants to Selb will be the main goal of this project. A planned strategic development in time and the cooperation of the neighbours of Selb will be essential to make this plan successful. CONTACT — Ludwigstrasse 46, 70176 Stuttgart (DE) +49 15756625564

TEAM POINT OF VIEW — The town of Selb is the perfect example albertomontiellozano@gmail.com / www.albertomontiel.es

3/ IMPLANTING

The challenge for cities to be both productive and sustainable is to interlink resources, mobilities and conditions of fairness. There are two aspects that implant new dynamics or reactivate resources such as urban farming and educational, research or creative forces: productive milieus and productive uses.

IMPLANTING

3/A Productive uses

Uses can become productive if they go beyond their own functional limitations: productive uses work as a trigger that can initiate dynamics of change in a way that transforms the surrounding environment. They are a response to a situation in which an absence of dynamics has led to a powerful «use-ambition», the demand for a credible programme, a catalyst for change that fits smoothly into the existing context.